Tilt shelf



P. L. FARREN Jan. 28, 1969 TILT SHELF Sheet Original Filed Feb. 9. 1966Pau/ Z Far/v 6/7 INVENIOR.

Jan. 28, 1969 P. L. FARREN 3,424,315 g TILT SHELF Original Filed Feb. 9.1966 Sheet 2 of 5 Fau/ A. Far/en 1 N VEN7 OR.

BY QILLJW'ZDLJMW 'ATTOR/VEV Jan. 28, 1969 P. L. FARREN 3,424,315

TILT SHELF Original. Filed Feb. 9. 1966 -Sheet 3 of 5 nuunoOO- on Pau/Z. Farr INVEN" BY PM BMK ATTO/P/VEV United States Patent 3,424,315 TILTSHELF Paul L. Farren, 5603 S. Rice Ave., Houston, Tex. 77036Continuation of application Ser. No. 526,262, Feb. 9, 1966. Thisapplication Nov. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 686,140

US. Cl. 211-126 8 Claims Int. Cl. A47b 63/06, 53/02, 57/28 ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A unit for the storage of reels, such as those storingmagnetic tape. Vertically spaced shelving includes spaced inclinedshelves, each shelf being of sufficient depth to accommodate two or morereels. Shelves may be downwardly inclined in opposite directions aboutupright supports. The entire unit may ride on wheels or rollers alongprepositioned tracks.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 526,262,filed Feb. 9, 1966, now abandoned.

Background of the invention Inasmuch as modern industry gathers,requires and utilizes tremendous quantities of information, the purevolume of compiled data is daily increasing in amounts unheard of twentyyears ago. This data is stored in many forms, such as in volumes,notebooks, tapes, microfilm, etc. These, in turn, may be placed indrawers, on shelves or in libraries. Such a constantly increasing volumeof information, information vvhich must be retrievable, requires an everincreasing amount of space for storage. Standard practice includes thestacking of drawer upon drawer of documents, as in the Patent Office, orthe common back-to-back placement common in most libraries. Sucharrangements therefore require aisle space between each upright storageshelf.

This invention contemplates the storage of a plurality of containers oneach shelf in a manner wherein on removing the nearest container, theimmediately adjacent one may automatic-ally assume an availableposition. Further, the invention contemplates the transportability ofentire groups of shelves so as to further conserve aisle space. Althoughthe invention will be described in terms of the storage of tape rolls orspools, it should be realized that this example is used for ease ofpresentation rather than as a limitation.

Thus, this invention has as its object the storage of a high volume ofinformation within a more limited space than heretofore possible.

A further object is the storage of a plurality of individual containerson a single shelf.

Yet another object is the conservation of unnecessary aisle space in anarea where information-containers are stored.

A still further object is the rendering of mobility to individualshelves or racks.

These and other objects and uses will become obvious on considering thefollowing appended description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of a con-ventional storagearrangement;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic representation of a storage arrangementutilizing the tiltable shelf of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic representation of the tiltable shelf concept ofthis invention as 'well as the mobility concept;

FIGURE 4 is a partly broken away perspective of an individual tray;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a single tray;

FIGURE '6 is an elevation of one embodiment of an adapter used in thisinvention;

FIGURE 7 is an elevation of a second embodiment of the adapter; and

FIGURE 8 is a perspective depicting a fully assembled rack utilizing thetiltable tray.

The representations of FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 should first be examined inorder to understand the problem of, and the savings resulting fromsolving said problem of excessive aisle space. FIGURE 1 depicts aconventional manner of storing data including vertical stacks orarrangement of wall shelves 10, separated by individual intermediatevertical stacks .11, each stack being separated by an aisle, denominated12, 13 and 14 respectively. By virtue of the aisle space, the retrievermay have access to data stored in the wall stack or on one face of theadjacent intermediate stack. Moving now to FIGURE 2, the wall stack 10is seen to utilize the tiltable concept, hereinafter described toincrease the amount of material available on the wall. Further, eachintermediate rack 11 utilizes the tilt concept so as to increase thequantity of information stored intermediate aisles such as 12 and 13. Onutilizing standard '36 inch aisles between adjacent vertical racks, thearrangement of FIGURE 2 would permit 20 vertical columns of tape to bestored in the same space in which the arrangement of FIGURE 1 wouldpermit only 14 vertical columns, an increase of approximately 43%.Moving onto FIGURE 3 where the intermediate stacks 11 are mounted onrollers which ride on rails, the wall stacks 10 may or may not be fixed.Here one aisle may suflice for an entire room, i.e., the intermediatestacks may be moved so as to gain access to the particularly desiredinformation. Such an arrangement could permit the storage of 32 verticalcolumns of tape within the same area in which the arrangement of FIG-URE 1 would only permit 14 columns, an increase of almost 130%.

Consider now the perspective of FIGURE 8 which depicts a singlevertically arranged storage stack 20. With the exception of the tiltableand mobility features, such stacks may be almost universally procured.Such a stack may include angled intermediate posts and corner framemembers 21, secured together by reinforcing members 22 and to a base 26.Shelves 25 are afiixed to said corner pieces on either side of thecenter line of the stack, which center line may be defined by thejuncture of center corner members 21a-21a and 21b-21b. Standard shelvingoftentimes has a tray-like configuration, i.e., one surface may be flat,usually the upper, with the lower surface dished or concave, resultingfrom flanges associated with the rectangle sides. The lowermost shelf ofFIGURE 8 is shown in the normally used position, fiat side up, while thehigher shelves are reversed with the flat side down, for a purposehereinafter described.

Shelves 25 are seen to be attached to center corner members 21a, 21b bymeans such as pins, weld or brackets 28 which may pass through one of aseries of spaced perforations 29 standardly provided in the angled framemembers. This permits the shelves to be positioned as desired. The frontportion of the shelves, or that side outwardly of the center of thestack, is connected by pins, welds, brackets, or similar fasteners 28,passing through perforations 29 in frame members 21. Said front portionis connected to said frame members in such a manner or at such aposition so that the shelves are tilted downwardly from rear to front.This accounts for the more or less bat-winged appearance of the shelvesas viewed in FIGURE 8. The lowermost shelf 25 may be so positioned as tobe flat, as shown in FIGURE 8, or may be tilted as are the uppershelves.

Consider now the individual shelf components as shown in FIGURES 4, 5, 6and 7. The shelves 25, with the exception possibly of the lowermost onein the rack as previously mentioned, are inverted so that flat surface30 is lowermost with sides 31, 32 extending upwardly therefrom as wellas are front and rear ends 33, 34 respectively, presenting a trayed ordished appearance. Adapters or indexing members 40 and 41 are positionedin the front and rear, respectively of the tray-like shelf. Saidadapters may be triangularly configured, as in FIG- URES 4 and 5, andhave a series of horizontally spaced slots 45 on face 44 thereof. Saidslots accommodate dividers 50 whose lowermost corners 51 may be insertedin said slots. After such insertion of said dividers, a plurality ofcompartments are formed whereby rolls, spools of magnetic tape, forexample, such as spools 60 may be inserted therein. Obviously aplurality of compartments may be formed in each shelf by varying theposition and number of dividers utilized in conjunction with slots 45 inadapters 40. As has previously been noted with respect to FIGURE 8, thefront end of the shelves are normally tilted downwardly, as for exampleby the angle a shown in FIGURE 5. Thus on removing magnetic spool 60a,the rearward spool 60 would, by gravity move or roll forward to occupythat position previously occupied by spool 60a.

A further and extremely useful embodiment of adapter 40 is shown inFIGURE 7, and is essentially a coiled spring 70 having spaces 71intermediate adjacent portions of the coil. On utilizing such anembodiment, a coil 70 might be placed in the front and rear of shelf 25in the position of and in place of adapter 40. The dividers 50, thenwould have their ends inserted within said spaces 71 rather than inslots 45 of adapters 40. Such an embodiment, while permitting the sameoperation as in FIGURE 4, permits substantial savings in cost as well asprovides ease of installation and provides a large number of potentialpositions for the dividers, thereby permitting easy variation of thewidth of the compartments so as to accommodate differently sized spoolsor rolls.

It bears reiterating that when it is desirable to store a very largevolume of data in a small area, each rack may be outfitted with wheels,rollers, skids or the like 80 (see FIGURE 3), to run on tracks 81, whichwould be installed within the flooring of a room, library or the like.Thus, one aisle might suffice in that an entire bank of racks might berolled to a position whereby access may be gained to the desired rack orrow or racks.

Thus, in summation, mechanisms have been designed wherein a largeincrease in the volume of stored data has been permitted within limitedconfines. Such mechanisms utilize the concept of tilting the individualshelves forwardly. By virtue of such tilting, rolls may be positioned indepth within each shelf, instead of the standard back to backarrangement. On removing the most forwardly of the rolls, the remainingones will slide or roll into a more accessible position. Further, byproviding a wheel and track assembly, the individual racks may be moved,thus providing a variably located aisle and a greatly increased storagecapacity.

While only limited embodiments of features of this invention have beendescribed, it should be apparent that numerous modifications would bepossible by one skilled in the art 'without departing from the spirit ofthe invention, the scope of which is intended to be limited only by thefollowing appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for storing a plurality of reels containing retrievabledata thereon, the combination of:

supporting means comprising front and rear pairs of vertical framemembers, each of said frame members having spaced means thereon forpermitting attachment thereto of portions of a plurality of shelf means;

a plurality of vertically spaced shelf means, each being attached tosaid attachment means of both the front and rear pairs of said framemembers in such a manner that the front and rear of said shelf means areparallel but the shelf means bottom is inclined downwardly from rear tofront; and

said plurality of shelf means each comprises front and rear verticallips, said bottom, parallel reel-retaining sides, identical, removableand interchangeable means for receiving dividers and thereby to permitdivision of said shelf means into a plurality of defined parallelreel-retaining areas, one of said divider receiving means being adjacentsaid shelf means front lip and the other adjacent said shelf means rearlip, each of said divider receiving means includes an inclined aperturedsurface facing the other divider receiving means and further includes asupporting portion joined to said inclined surface, said supportingportion having a substantially vertical portion adapted to rest againstthe adjacent shelf means lips and resting upon but removably nonintegralwith said shelf means bottom, and divider means positioned within andextending between apertures of said front and rear divider receivingmeans.

2. In a device for storing a plurality of reels containing retrievabledata thereon, the combination of:

supporting means comprising front and rear pairs of vertical framemembers, each of said frame members having spaced means thereon forpermitting attachment thereto of portions of a plurality of shelf means;

a plurality of vertically spaced shelf means, each being attached tosaid attachment means of both the front and rear pairs of said framemembers in such a manner that the front and rear of said shelf means areparallel but the shelf means bottom is inclined downwardly from rear tofront; and

said plurality of shelf means each comprises front and rear verticallips, said bottom, parallel reelretaining sides, a pair of identicalremovable and interchangeable pre-stretched coil springs having, withoutfurther extension being necessary, spaces intermediate each adjacentcoil of sufficient width to receive dividers, one of said springs beingremovably adjacent and non-integral with said shelf means front lip andthe other of said springs being removably adjacent and non-integral withsaid shelf means rear lip, and divider means positioned within andextending between said spaces in said one and said other coil springs.

3. In a device for storing a plurality of reels containing retrievabledata thereon, the combination of:

supporting means comprising front and rear pairs of vertical framemembers connected to a base, each of said frame members having spacedmeans thereon for permitting attachment thereto of portions of aplurality of shelf means;

a plurality of vertically spaced shelf means, each being attached tosaid attachment means of both the front and rear pairs of said framemembers in such a manner that the front and rear of said shelf means areparallel but the shelf means bottom is inclined downwardly from rear tofront;

said plurality of shelf means each comprises front and rear verticallips, parallel reel-retaining sides, identical removable andinterchangeable means for receiving dividers and thereby to permitdivision of said shelf means into a plurality of defined parallelreel-retaining areas, one of said divider receiving means being adjacentsaid shelf means front lip and the other adjacent said shelf means rearlip, each of said divider receiving means includes an inclined aperturedsurface facing the other divider receiving means and further includes asupporting portion joined to said inclined surface, said supportingportion having a substantially vertical portion adapted to rest againstthe adjacent shelf means lip and wardly from their rear to front,adjacent ones of said first and second shelves presenting an inverted Vappearance; and

roller members provided said base of said device adapted to ride alongrails on a predetermined path, and rail means, fixed with respect to asupporting surface, to receive said roller members and thereby permitsaid device to be moved along said path.

ing retrievable data thereon, the combination of:

supporting means comprising oppositely disposed pairs of vertical framemembers, vertical post means in- 7. In a device for storing a pluralityof reels contain- 10 ing retrievable data thereon, the combination of:

supporting means comprising oppositely disposed pairs termediate saidoppositely disposed pairs, structural reinforcing means linking each ofsaid pairs to said vertical post means, and spaced means on each membercomprising said vertical frame members and post means for permittingattachment thereto of portions of a plurality of shelf means;

a first plurality of vertically spaced shelves, all joined at one end tosaid post means attachment means and at the other end to the attachmentmeans of one of said pairs of frame members in such a manner that thefront and rear edges of said first shelves are parallel but the shelfbottoms are inclined downwardly from their rear to front; and

a second plurality of vertically spaced shelves, all joined at one endto said post means attachment means, adjacent to and in side by siderelationship to said one end of said first plurality of shelves, and atthe other end to the attachment means of the other of said pairs offrame members in such a manner that the front and rear edges of saidsecond shelves are parallel but the shelf bottoms are inclineddownwardly from their rear to front, adjacent ones of said first andsecond shelves presenting an inverted V appearance.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein each shelf of said first and secondplurality of shelves includes front and rear edges, a bottom, parallelreel-retaining sides, identical and interchangeable adapter means onebeing adjacent said front and one adjacent said rear edge, each of saidadapter means possessing a plurality of spaced apertures for receivingdivider means, and divider means positioned within and extending betweenapertures of said front and rear adapter means so as to define areashaving the of vertical frame members, vertical post means intermediatesaid oppositely disposed pairs, structural reinforcing means linkingeach of said pairs to said vertical post means including a base, andspaced means on each member comprising said vertical frame members andpost means for permitting attachment thereto of portions of a pluralityof shelf means;

a first plurality of vertically spaced shelves, all joined at one end tosaid post means attachment means and at the other end to the attachmentmeans of one of said pairs of frame members in such a manner that thefront and rear edges of said first shelves are parallel but the shelfbottoms are inclined downwardly from their rear to front;

second plurality of vertically spaced shelves, all joined at one end tosaid post means attachment means, adjacent to and in side by siderelationship to said one end of said first plurality of shelves, and atthe other end to the attachment means of the other of said pairs offrame members in such a manner that the front and rear edges of saidsecond shelves are parallel but the shelf bottoms are inclineddownwardly from their rear to front, adjacent ones of said first andsecond shelves presenting an inverted V appearance;

each shelf of said first and second plurality of shelves includes frontand rear edges, a bottom, parallel reelretaining sides, identical andinterchangeable adapter means one being adjacent said front and oneadjacent said rear edge, each of said adapter means possessing aplurality of spaced apertures for receiving divider means, and dividermeans positioned with- Width of said reels. in and extending betweenapertupres of said front and 6. In a device for storing a plurality ofreels containrear adapter means so as to define areas having the ingretrievable data thereon, the combination of: Width of said reels; and

supporting means comprising oppositely disposed pairs roller membersprovided said base of said device of vertical frame members, verticalpost means inadapted to ride along rails on a predetermined path,termediate said oppositely disposed pairs, structural and rail means,fixed with respect to a supporting reinforcing means linking each ofsaid pairs to said vertical post means including a base, and spacedmeans on each member comprising said vertical frame members and postmeans for permitting attachment thereto of portions of a plurality ofshelf means;

a first plurality of vertically spaced shelves, all joined surface, toreceive said roller members and thereby permit said device to be movedalong said path.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein said adapter means are coiled springs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS at one end to said post meansattachment means and 1,205,747 11/1916 KaWate 0 XR at the other end tothe attachment means of one 2,812,069 11/1957 Trammell 211-162 of saidpairs of frame members in such a manner 2,915,193 12/1959 Bromberg211184 XR that the front and rear edges of said first shelves 5/ 1961Handler et XR are parallel but the shelf bottoms are inclined down-3,052,363 9/ 1962 8 X wardly from their rear to front; 3,126,101 4/ 1964Katter ohn 211133 XR a second plurality of vertically spaced shelves,all joined 3,151,576 10/1964 Patterson 3 XR at one end to said post meanattachment means, 3,232,442 2/1966 Wilson 211-133 ad'acent to and inside b side relationship to said on e end of said first plli rality ofshelves, and at CHANCELLOR HARRIS, y Examine!- the other end to theattachment means of the other U S Cl X R of said pairs of frame membersin such a manner that the front and rear edges of said second shelves108-6; 211-134, 184

are parallel but the shelf bottoms are inclined down-

